Local positioning systems are becoming an important enabler in mobile devices requiring navigation capabilities, especially in applications of autonomous vehicles and precision construction tools. Global positioning systems such as GPS provide only medium accuracy position information, usually no better than 10 cm, and requires a clear view of the sky to near the horizon. Local positioning systems, with either active or passive components distributed in a working volume, can allow much more accurate (<1 cm) positioning, and allows the user to expand the system as necessary to operate in even the most complex enclosed geometries.
Conventional local positioning systems include acoustic and laser ranging systems. Acoustic systems typically use transponder beacons to measure range within a network of devices, some of which are fixed to form the local coordinate system. Unfortunately, because of the properties of sound propagation through air, acoustic systems can only measure range to accuracies of a centimeter or more, and only over relatively short distances. Local positioning systems based on lasers utilize measurements of both the angle and range between a device and one or more reflective objects, such as prisms, to triangulate or trilateralate the position of the device. However, laser systems currently employ expensive pointing mechanisms that can drive the system cost to $30K or more.
A relatively low-cost (≦$2000) local positioning system able to determine 2D or 3D positions to accuracies of a few millimeters would enable a large set of potential products, in such application areas as precision indoor and outdoor construction, mining, precision farming, and stadium field mowing and treatment. The present invention overcomes the cost and accuracy limitations of conventional local positioning systems.